


Second Chances: Unexpected Suprises

by AuraWhiteFox



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Gabriel Big Bang 2012, Gen, Humor, M/M, Mild Language, Temporary Character Death, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-03-16
Updated: 2012-03-16
Packaged: 2017-11-02 01:14:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 15,620
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/363385
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AuraWhiteFox/pseuds/AuraWhiteFox
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Gabriel died he hadn't expected much more to happen to him, but waking up in purgatory, seeing what happens in a future without him, then being sent back in time was just the tip of the ice burg. </p>
<p>What's a former angel and trickster to do now? </p>
<p>Answer: <i>Winchesters.</i></p>
            </blockquote>





	Second Chances: Unexpected Suprises

Gabriel opened his eyes and gave a start; he was lying down, staring up into an endless blue sky. He had no idea where he was or how he came to be there.

_‘Okay this is no time to panic Gabby boy’_ Gabriel thought, trying to quell the queasy feeling of panic that was slowly creeping up on him.

As he lay, memories slowly began to come back to him. Gabriel twitched as visions of his death overcame him. He could remember his brother stabbing him, killing him. He had known that they were on opposite sides of the war and that Lucy had lost his marbles eons ago but he’d still hoped…well not much came out of that except a sword in the gut and a shining death. Not one of his better moments but it could have been worse; at least he had stood up for what he truly believed in instead of getting stabbed in the back on the run. He wondered if the Winchesters felt anything when he died, if Dean felt any guilt for essentially shaming him into coming to their rescue and his ultimate death.

He wondered if he should get up and check out the area around him, he might not know where he was but it would be just his luck to run across a demon or other supernatural beast while he was lying in the grass.

But if this was supposed to be his oblivion then why did he have conscious thought? Hell, why did he have a body? It seems that even in death Gabriel couldn’t do anything the correct way. Either that or this was the right way and he was just being melodramatic about it.

Was this what had happened to all his brothers and sisters when they were killed? Waking up in a quiet field with the sky above their heads, the feeling of peace almost forceful in the air? 

If that was so then most of them must have gone completely mad by now, even more so then Lucifer.

He couldn’t help but wonder if his Father was alive and disappointed with his choices. He knew that he must have disappointed him when he left Heaven and fell in with the Pagan Gods. Threw out his name and past disposition and adopted a more wicked sense of humor that had hurt and killed more than one mortal in his lifetime. 

Or would he be proud of him? Gabriel had stood up to Lucifer, even though it had hurt everything inside of him to do so. He had never wanted to fight his brothers, ever. That’s the main reason he’d left Heaven in the first place, so he would never have to choose between them. He loved Michael and Lucifer equally. They were his brothers and it had killed him to watch them fight all those eons ago. When Michael had thrown Lucifer down Gabriel had screamed his anguish and rage. Had, for a moment, an urge to follow his fallen brother down into the pit with him. But sense had quickly overtaken that urge and he had held back as he watched Michael throw his brother’s supporters after him.

He didn’t know which was worse of him, running away and pretending to be dead for years or being killed by his brother for siding with the humans, with the Winchesters and their merry bunch that said ‘fuck you’ to both sides and made their own.

He wished he wasn’t dead because at the moment he wanted nothing more than for this to be one hell of a bad dream and he’d be waking up any minute to go bug the Winchesters about something trivial. Maybe even get his little brother Cas drunk and finally get him to molest the eldest Winchester. Now that would be a treat to watch, Sammy would choke so badly at the sight that Gabriel would have no alternative then to perform mouth to mouth, the kiss of life.

Gabriel snickered at the thought; Dean-o would definitely try to smite him on the spot if he saw the archangel lip locked with his baby brother, while Cass-y boy would cling to him like a barracuda. Sammy…well he’d either push Gabriel away and try to knife him in the nuts or he’d give in and begin a tongue battle the likes that no mortal had ever seen.

As he drifted in thought he couldn’t stop the anxiety that began to creep up on him, the silence that surrounded him was beginning to creep him out. He hated to be alone, especially with his own thoughts.

He got slowly to his feet, his body felt…off. He couldn’t explain it. It could have been because this wasn’t actually his body but a respective mirror of what he thought he looked like, but if that was true then he wouldn’t have a body at all, instead he would have looked like he did back in the day, nothing but floating Grace, huge and all encompassing.

Still it was like…

Gabriel shook his head and dismissed the feeling. This was death, of course he was suppose to feel off. It would totally be weird if he felt as fit as a fiddle. He looked around his surroundings but all he saw was more grass, it spread for what looked like miles, just endless ground and grass, with the almost unnatural blue sky above him with not a single cloud in sight.

“Hello, anyone out there? Hhheeellllloooo??!” Gabriel decided to try to call out, maybe, somehow, someone will hear him, or he’d hear someone else. It was worth a try, but no one answered, there was no one anywhere around him, not even an echo.

Gabriel grumbled profanities as he looked in all directions. Purgatory was completely boring, no wonder no one wanted to die and come here if all he had was himself. He’d even take total oblivion over this, at least then he wouldn’t exist to be bored to death.

He decided to wander the endless plain. Maybe if he walked around a bit he’d find something or someone else. He couldn’t be the only soul in Purgatory…could he?

So he walked. After an unimaginable amount of time had passed, it could have been minutes or centuries, Gabriel certainly couldn’t tell, he started to wonder how everything had played out after his death.

Had Sam and Dean said the final yes to his brothers? Had the war begun and the human race been torn apart? Was the Earth now a broken paradise for his brothers and sisters?

Or had, against all odds, the Winchesters prevail against the end of the world and his brothers? Maybe they were living the wonderfully happy life that Dean would have gagged at and Sam would have cried tears of joy over. 

Despite the sarcastic humor he projected at the idea, Gabriel found himself truly wanting to know what had happened to everyone.

He had thought that he would have been apathetic enough after the years spent hiding from his family that he wouldn’t give those humans a second thought, but he found that it wasn’t entirely true.

It was all Dean Winchester’s fault, that bastard. He made Gabriel care again, had broken through his shields that he had placed within himself all those years ago to block the pain and sorrow he had felt over his family’s problems when he had left Heaven. Because even though Gabriel was still angry at his family for the plain stupidly of their actions he couldn’t help but love them. They were his family after all.

Like goody-two-shoes Michael, the golden boy who obeyed their Father without question, or at least what he believed to be his Father’s orders. Lucifer, whose ego had expanded to epic proportions and had become jealous of their Father’s creations, fearing that their Father loved the humans more than his own sons and daughters. Raphael, once the most gentlest of them all, now misguided to their Father’s plans and a pawn of his own greed and envy of his elder brothers and the humans.

Castiel was his favorite though, that little angel had stood up for himself and his friends, defied heaven itself, even though it must have been agony to break away from the Host of heaven and to attack his own brothers. Gabriel couldn’t help but feel proud of him, he’d come a long way from being just another foot soldier of Heaven’s host.

He was man enough to admit, even if only to himself, that he was also jealous of Castiel.

How was it that Castiel, an angel with hardly any Grace, could be so courageous in the face of his fellow brothers and sisters and yet Gabriel, who was eons older than him and an archangel, could be such a coward about his own family?

Because that’s what Dean had called him, and he had been right on the money with that one, Gabriel had been a coward, still was in some aspects. Gabriel hated to confront his brothers, would have rather hid for the rest of time then face them and the problems and angst that came with fighting with or against them.

Gabriel mentally sighed. Well if purgatory had one propose it was for someone to be bored enough to think back to all their problems and analyze them to death.

He really wished he could have seen how things had played out though, might have been fun.

As he continued to walk, he found himself moving towards something. He hadn’t noticed it before, but now that he was closer he could make out some kind of shimmer on the horizon. 

While wary, Gabriel couldn’t help but let out a sigh of relief, finally something other than grass. Not that he didn’t like grass, and this particular grass was very soft and cushiony, much better then say-rocks but still, there was only so much grass one archangel can take and he’d definitely had his fill of the green stuff.

It took him awhile to reach the shimmer but since he’d seen it, it was like it was calling him, a siren’s song that Gabriel didn’t have the will to disobey.

Finally Gabriel could make out just what he had been walking towards, a body of water.

It was smaller than a lake but bigger then a pond. It fluctuated before his very eyes, changing shape and size. The color was off too, there was no single color to the water. One second it was a deep blue, then a sea green, and then a deep red.

It was almost enough to give Gabriel a headache, if he could actually get one here that is.

As he continued to watch the water it began to bend and morph even more, as if in response to his staring. Soon the water stopped moving, it was barely bigger then a small lake now, and was a shinning white.  
Then the water began to expand upwards. 

Which finally caused Gabriel to back up a few steps, uncertainty and a healthy sense of fear quickly overcoming the siren’s melody. 

But the water wouldn’t let him escape, he barely got two steps back before the endless looking light overwhelmed him, drowning him in its heart.

“What the-?!” Gabriel tried to shout as he floated in the water. It was weird, he wasn’t wet or anything, but the light around him felt like water, he wiggled around and found himself upside down.

Oh, charming…

Before he could right himself up the light flashed around him and suddenly Gabriel could see everything in techno color.

Scenes as if from a movie began to flash all around him, it took him a second to get it but he soon realized that what he was seeing were the events of what happened after his death.

He was silent as he watched the Winchesters and his baby bro go after the Horsemen like he had told them too in the video. He was more than a little shocked when he saw the Crossroads King take a stand with them.

Well that was unexpected but not unwelcome. It was good that the Winchesters had someone else to shake the box now that Gabriel was out of the picture.

Gabriel watched in horror as Dean went to meet Death. What the hell was up with that?! You don’t go meet Death casually like that! At least bring in the cavalry as backup, maybe an ancient text or two in case things went south. 

He continued to watch, shocked and awed at the daring of the humans and his baby bro. Seriously, thems were some big brass balls that they were growing. 

He couldn’t help but feel sorrow when Sam said yes to Lucifer. He knew it was important to the plan they had come up with but it was still heartbreaking to see. Dean’s pain at seeing Lucifer wearing Sam like a meatsuit was also heartbreaking. Those two brothers were so soul bound it was amazing that they’d been born brothers considering their status of being soulmates.

Sooner then he would have liked the Winchesters and the others of team free will confronted his brothers in the cemetery in Lawrence for the last time.

He winced as Michael made an appearance in the vessel of Adam, Sam and Dean’s half brother, another loose end that Gabriel had forgotten about in his mad dash to confront his brother.

He grew cold as he saw Castiel throw holy fire on Micky, because damn! That’s got to hurt, although he couldn’t help but laugh a little when he heard Castiel call Micky an assbutt, which was priceless.

But he flinched when Lucifer blew up Cas in retaliation. Damn it! He had liked him! Lucy shouldn’t blow up his little brother like that! It wasn’t right and it hurt to see how damned his brothers had become; he  
wondered what his Father saw when he looked at them nowadays.

It was seriously hard for Gabriel to watch what happened next. As much as he wished for the scenes to stop, for him to go back to the sea of nothing but grass and the sound of his own voice was much worse, not that his voice wasn’t awesome because it totally was.

He was forced to watch as Sam/Lucifer and Adam/Michael both got thrown into the pit and Dean’s beaten to hell body slump next to the hole. Bobby, the old hunter, had gotten his neck broken by Lucifer just for standing there. Another worthwhile human, gone.

“Stop…please stop this.” Gabriel begged, he didn’t know if he was asking his Father or someone else to cease the visions but at this point he didn’t give a fuck, he just wanted to stop watching.

For a while he couldn’t help but feel glad that he had died before all this had happened. He didn’t know what he would have done if he had to actually be there for his brothers descent into the cage. Would he have felt love and lost or would his heart have become hard to his family like Cas‘s had?

After the hole had closed up he managed to catch a glimpse of Castiel, who he had just seen be blown apart, flying back down from the heavens to heal the hunters before everything went white again.

“Okay I’m just going to drift here then, no more wishing.” He mumbled to himself, and startled as a loud boom sounded around him.

_“Gabriel…”_

Gabriel felt an icy feeling spread through him. He hadn’t heard that voice in a very long time.

“Father…?”

_“My son…when you left Heaven you had disappointment me.”_

Gabriel was not going to cry, but it was a pretty close call when he heard those words in his Father’s booming voice.

_“But I have to say…I hadn’t expected you to stand up to Lucifer like that. You made a choice and it was, not Lucifer’s side, which would have ended with Hell on Earth, nor did you choose Michael’s side of the war, which wouldn’t have been that much different from Lucifer’s."_

_"Michael’s paradise only differs from his brother’s in one way, Lucifer won’t lie about it, he’d enslave and kill everything that lives on this green earth, we both know this to be true. Michael’s paradise would have been a false paradise, pretending and projecting a greatness when deep down its nothing more than slaughter and dictatorship.”_

Gabriel’s head hurt, what was the point of his Father saying all this? It wasn’t like it was some great secret that Michael and Lucifer’s ideal of paradise was sickeningly similar.

_“But even knowing this…you still tried to get the Winchesters to say yes to your brothers. Why?”_

Gabriel flinched; he realized what was happening now. He didn’t know if his Father was actually there or if this was just a punishment that Purgatory had come up with. 

He had heard stories once, a long time ago, that when an angel or demon or demi-god died and were sent to Purgatory they faced their greatest sins and virtues.

And Gabriel had a lot of sins to face.

“I…don’t know. I guess I just wanted to get things done with and for everyone to leave me out of it. I didn’t want to play any part in my brother’s grand plans.”

Gabriel was surprised; he hadn’t realized that was how he felt about things. It looked like he couldn’t lie, not here, and especially not to himself.

_“If that’s what you truly feel then why did you side with the Winchesters in the end? After all, when you first met the vessels you were in your Trickster persona and made them believe you were dead. After that you made the younger Winchester endure watching his brother die again and again. Over a hundred times you made the Vessel of Lucifer suffer that fate before forcing him to suffer another six months without him. Then you enforced them to go through your illusions, playing your hand too hard and having them discover your true identity."_

_“You even hurt your younger brother, Castiel.”_

“Wait-! I didn’t hurt him! I just misplaced him so he couldn’t get the idiots out!” Gabriel protested.

_“You may not have hurt him too bad physically, but the emotional damage you dealt him…to all of them, was enormous. You trampled the last bit of hope and faith in Samuel Winchester. Showed Dean Winchester that there really isn’t any point in asking for help from anyone but Castiel, and Castiel…lost any faith in Heaven and placed all his burdened faith in Dean Winchester…who isn’t equipped to handled such loyalty. Not anymore.”_

“I know…I know…”

_“You have done what not even your brothers could do. You crushed any hope that those three had left. Even when you died for them it did little to redeem the part of them that you tore away.”_

“I know…I KNOW…”

_“You knew that the plan to bring all four rings together was a long shot but you decided to try to give them something to hold onto, even though you knew that Lucifer wouldn’t jump back into the pit of his own free will, nor would your other brothers allow such a thing before the final battle between Michael and Lucifer. They’ve been waiting and planning in the shadows for so long for the downfall of humanity and their ideal of paradise."_

_“You try to blame me don’t you, the Father who left the children behind to think for themselves?”_

Gabriel violently shook his head, “No I…I didn’t blame you.”

_“Lies child. You may have felt abandoned by me but it was yourself that you truly blamed for the fall of Heaven. You believed that if you had never ran away then you could have stopped your brothers from falling into sins. You could have helped them, after all you were the third son, younger then Michael yes, but older then Raphael and much older then all your younger siblings who needed someone to guide them that wasn’t insane or suffering from the weight of grief.”_

Gabriel couldn’t argue, how could he? When that was what he truly felt.

Because it was all true, Gabriel should have manned up all those years ago. Instead of giving into his grief and anger and fleeing his family he should have tried to shoulder the burden that had been laid on his brothers’ shoulders. 

_“Gabriel…so much pain has been suffered by all, the inhabitants of earth, the angels, and yes, even the demons have suffered. I would ask…if you could return to earth, return to the land of the living, what would you do?”_

Gabriel’s blood ran hot and cold, respectively. What was being asked of him?

_“What would you do, Messenger of God?”_

Gabriel shuddered. “I would…fix things. I would heal what has been hurt. I would take command from those who don’t deserve or desire it. I…would save those who need to be saved, regardless of what has been done.”

_“Do you truly mean that? You would take up the mantel that you have denied for centuries? Why? What for?”_

“For too long I have allowed my fear to overcome my duty…I need to stop running. The Winchesters…they helped me to understand that. Also Cas wasn’t too bad of a role model, despite his young age.” Gabriel faked a smirk. 

_“…GOOD.”_

The whiteness began to fade from around him, leaving him in a growing darkness, the field of grass didn’t return either. 

“Okkaaayy then…now what?” Gabriel asked, annoyed even more so with the dark then he had been with the light. 

But nothing answered his question, even when he asked it several times.

“Helloo? Fuck, why am I left in the dark? This isn’t cool yo!” He screamed out. “Dad! Father! Fucking Purgatory or whoever the fuck you are! Let me out of this place! Take me back to the grass if you want just don’t leave me here!”

Gabriel huffed angrily and glared hard at nothing as he floated.

“Oh this is just great. Praise the lord baby Jesus and all that fuckup!” Gabriel ranted. 

Suddenly he began to feel light headed and dizzy, passing out fast he didn’t see a sharp white light wrap itself around him, charging him up with its bright light.

_“Now my son, help your family…”_

 

\--

 

When Gabriel woke up he decided that he hated karma with every shred of his Grace. He moaned as he picked himself up from the dirty motel room bed and looked with wary eyes at the décor.

Tacky wallpaper, tacky light fixtures, tacky moose head-hey it’s Sammy!- and a t.v. that was set in white snow mode. 

Yep, there was no doubt about it, he was in Hell.

Gabriel moaned again, more for theatrics, not that anyone was around to watch his awesomeness but he couldn’t have everything. It didn’t feel like any of his bones were broken, so other then a bad case of soreness, he seemed to have made it alright from death.

Dragging himself to the attached bathroom he looked at himself in the muggy mirror.

His hair was a mess and he had black bags under his eyes. His eyes were also slightly glassy looking and his skin was shallow, not to mention the clothes he was wearing were the same ones he’d died in, which meant that the big ass hole in his shirt was still there. Not to mention the bits of ash that stained the cloth from when his wings had burned. Well that wouldn’t do now will it?

Gabriel snapped his fingers and got the scare of his life when nothing happened.

“What the motherloving fuck?!” He snapped harder but still nothing happened.

He threw a disgusted look at the mirror and left the bathroom, as he stood there in the middle of the room he stared wrathfully at everything. 

“What’s going on?!” He yelled and jumped in surprise when the wall next to the bed banged loudly with some annoying voice shouting at him to shut the fuck up.

“Fuck you mortal scum!” He shouted back, he was beginning to feel a heavy mixture of fear in the ocean of anger he was experiencing.

“Alright, let’s think.” He took deep breaths and sat on the sagging bed, putting his head in his hands as he tried to calm himself down enough to think things through rationally.

As Gabriel closed his eyes and relaxed he noticed something different, a weird feeling inside of him that he hadn’t notice before. As he paid more attention to it, it seemed to flex in response.

It was almost enough to startle him out of his meditative state but Gabriel took firm control of his emotions that were threatening to go haywire on him and forced himself to relax again, trying to touch that part  
of himself that was definitely not suppose to be there.

“What are you…?” Gabriel breathed out. Shock didn’t even begin to cover it; there was something inside of Gabriel that hadn’t been there before he died, not to mention that he wasn’t able to get in touch with any of his powers. 

Deciding to put his thoughts on the thing inside of him aside for the moment, Gabriel turned his attention elsewhere, looking deeper inside himself to try to find his Grace.

It only took him about 2 seconds to realize that there wasn’t a stitch of Grace inside of his body, at least not anywhere that he could touch.

More and more frantically Gabriel searched his inner core for that shred of angelic power that had been bestowed upon him when his Father had created him but it continued to elude him. There was nothing of the magnificence that he used to command left.

Whimpering in shocked dismay Gabriel curled up on the bed and began to pray for the first time in over a millennium to his Father for guidance and help.

When enough time had passed that the sky had darkened to a deep purple and the street lights outside turned on Gabriel finally got up and went to splash more cold water on his face, he even debated taking a shower but since the only clothes he had were the dirty ones on him and he couldn’t snap some new ones into existence, he decided to forgo the shower for now. 

Gabriel fiddled around the small television for a while and got a total of three channels; one sitcom channel and two news channels.

He debated back and forth over the quality of the sitcom or the news but decided that he probably needed to find out what’s been happening in the world around him. So, with a put upon sigh, he changed the channel to one of the news channels instead of watching the trashy human show.

The news channel he had picked was reporting some boring story about teenage pop artists, either that or it was about two headed cows, he couldn’t really tell the difference and didn’t really care to. He watched, bored for a moment before his eyes were drawn to the bottom of the screen. He hadn’t noticed the small banner on the bottom of the screen that was reporting other news until it began flashing, annoying his  
eyes enough for him to glance downward, which in turn made him look at the small calendar in the corner.

If he was to believe the date that it said it was that would mean that it was two days before Samuel Winchester got taken by Azazel and placed in Cold Oak to fight or die. Which meant that Dean hadn‘t yet sold his soul to bring Sammy back from the dead and that meant that there was a chance to stop the apocalypse before it even begun. 

Gabriel stared wide eyed at the small numbers, his jaw hanging down a bit in true shock. 

Well that put things in perspective.

It would seem that while he had been chilling in Purgatory things had gotten out of control on Earth. To be sent back this far in the past when such an important standoff was going to occur then surly he was sent to stop it from ever happening, at least that’s the only explanation that made sense to him at the moment. 

Being this far back in the past brought both it’s set of pros and cons. On one hand, he could nip the apocalypse in the bud before it even had a chance to sprout its thorny roots, but on the other hand he was basically on his own. Castiel would still be in heaven doing his superiors bidding, none the wiser to what was to become of his world. Not to mention that if Gabriel tried to contact him in any way Heaven would be alerted to his presence and he would be dead sooner then the last time, even if he had time to explain himself to Castiel and get the younger Angel to believe him it would still be a risk, one that Gabriel couldn’t afford to make right now. The crossroad demon that had helped the Winchesters in the future would just be another demon right now, he wouldn’t have the motive or means to help him, not that he would want to considering they were on opposites side of the war. The demon wouldn’t have a change of heart about that for a long time coming, not unless Gabriel was able to show him what the future had in store for him and those like him, but without his powers Gabriel didn’t have that kind of leverage, so the demon was out as far as helping Gabriel as well.

As he stood there he tried to sense his wings, but like his Grace, they too were gone, there was no sense of comfort from the previous invisible feathers, no familiar weight on his back, it would seem that he had come back completely human. 

He didn’t think he was one of the Fallen, not in the traditional sense at least. He hadn’t fallen from Heaven, whether under his own free will or forced into it, but his grace was gone so he obviously wasn’t an angel of the lord any more. He wasn’t even a Trickster- just powerless.

He now had a lot of sympathy with what Castiel went through when he decided to side with Dean and gotten cut off from Heaven. To know what you had been but no longer able to be that was hellish, pun intended.

He leaned back on his elbows and stared at the small television with glazed eyes, not really watching. Maybe his grace had fallen to earth when he was released from Purgatory. If that was so then all he needed to do was to go hunt it down like Anna had done with the Winchester’s help.

But since he was without his powers it could take him years to locate his Grace and he didn’t have the luxury of that much time right now. And that was if his Grace had touched down in the same state that he was in, because in truth it could have fallen on the other side of the world.

What he needed was help, Winchester style.

And considering he practically died for them the last time they had met up he was sure that they would spare a few hours helping him track down his Grace. It didn’t matter if that had never happened for them, once he saves Sammy’s life and stops Dean from ever making that deal that sends him to hell the both of them would be so grateful that they would automatically help him, even though they already knew him as the Trickster, not the archangel that fucked up their lives. 

And if that didn’t work he could always threaten them. Besides, they didn’t know that he was now powerless. So as long as he plays it up that he will roast them like hot turkeys on Thanksgiving they wouldn’t stake him in the chest.

Hopefully.

Gabriel shook his head, this wasn’t the time to doubt himself, he didn’t have time for that, not now. Not with what he knew was going to happen to everyone, to his brothers, to the humans if he failed.

Gabriel surprised himself by yawning, he quickly covered his mouth with his hand at the strange phenomenon, yawning was such a human trait and even though Gabriel pride himself in the finer pleasures of the human race, he had never yawned before or gotten tired. After a moment of nothing else happening he shrugged and decided to get some rest and head out in the morning. He knew where Bobby lived of course,  
so he’d make his way towards his house, maybe the hunter would know where the Winchesters were at, not that the hunter would willingly tell Gabriel what he wanted to know but maybe he could wait it out at the old man’s place until the Winchesters came around, though if they didn’t make it in a day or so Gabriel would have to take matters in his own hands. He couldn’t allow things to happen in the same direction they had before.

Gabriel turned off the lights and the television and curled up on the top of the covers on the bed. He closed eyes and tried not to visualize what Purgatory had shown him in the reflections. Sadly it wasn’t as easily as simply wishing it.

 

\--

 

It didn’t take Gabriel very long to figure out where he was after he left the small motel the next morning. He had been very surprised to find himself waking up as the sun rose in the window. Angels don’t normally sleep and even though he liked several traits of the human race, sleeping wasn’t one of them. So he had been expecting to just rest there in the dark as his thoughts spun around in his mind over and over.

He hadn’t expected to actually fall asleep. To have actual proof of his mortality was both unnerving and rather frightening. 

Finding himself in Sioux Falls, South Dakota should have surprised him but it seemed that after rising from the dead and being sent back 3 years into the past nothing could surprise him anymore. Okay, that was a lie, he would be extremely surprised if his Father suddenly showed up and apologized to him about everything, or if Lucifer and Michael suddenly kissed and made up and stopped trying to blow up the earth in their endless sibling bitch fight. Or if Dean finally got his head out of his ass and fucked Gabriel’s baby brother through the mattress. But since he doubted any of those three things would be happening any time soon he guessed he would just live without being surprised for now.

Gabriel walked to a nearby diner and sat down in one of the booths, the diner was close to empty this early in the morning, only a few costumers graced the booths and tables, more then likely they were regulars or truckers passing by. He picked up a menu and pretended to browse it, but in truth he was watching everyone in the diner, trying to figure out who would be the best person to convince that he was an old friend of Robert Singer and needed a lift to his junkyard. 

When the waitress came and asked him if he knew what he wanted he just asked for water. When the woman got an annoyed look on her face he hasten to explain that he needed more time with the menu. The expression cleared on the waitress’s tired face and she gave a small nod, saying that she’d be right back with his ice water.

Gabriel let out a small sigh of relief as she walked away, he had forgotten for a moment that he couldn’t snap money into existence anymore like he had done for a millennium since he‘d come down and hid himself.

He cursed himself for forgetting his predicament so quickly and slapped down the menu onto the table in frustration. Being human, especially a broke human, wasn’t going to be a cake walk and Gabriel would not be taking a physical and dull job thank you very much, not his style.

Now coning someone else to give him money…well, that Gabriel was familiar with.

When the waitress came back Gabriel upped the charm and flattery.

“Hey sweetheart,” Gabriel smiled sweetly. “What’s your name?”

The waitress giggled a little and bushed, she must have been in her forties but she was still pretty, in a tired kind of way.

“My name’s Annie, how about yours name hun?” 

Gabriel tried not to smirk. “Gabriel, madam.”

“Oh that’s a sweet name!” Annie exclaimed. “Like some kind of angel.” 

Any good humor that Gabriel had been feeling dried up, he keep the smile on his face but it was more plastic looking then it had been.

“Hey, Annie maybe you can help me. You see, I’m looking for my uncle. My dad’s really sick and they haven’t seen each other in years so I thought I’d come and see if he’d like to come back home with me for a bit to see the old man. But my dad doesn’t know his last forward address. Maybe you know it?” His smile became wobbly and he tried to push a few tears into his eyes, as if the very thought of his ill father was too horrible to think about.

The waitress’s eyes had gone teary and Gabriel couldn’t have been more pleased with his sob story. The woman would tell him whatever he needed to know. Sometimes he wondered what his brothers would think of him if they spent even a small amount of time with him. He was different then he had been before he had gone into hiding.

More then likely they would be horrified and disgusted.

Gabriel mentally shook his head to dislodged those thoughts from his head, this wasn’t the time for such thoughts. He wanted to sigh, it would seem that his more human brain had a bad habit of running off track.

“Oh hun that’s so sad, of course I’ll help. What’s your uncle’s name?” 

“His name is Robert Singer.” 

Annie snorted, “Oh yea I know that old codger. He lives a few miles out of town. If you keep on going down this street you can’t miss it, it’s a giant junk pile.”

Gabriel beamed at her, “Thanks Ann.” He reached and swiped the glass of ice water from the tray she was holding and chugged it down, it helped to relive the hunger pains that he was beginning to feel.

He winked at the bemused woman and sauntered out, better to get out quick before he was forced to order something, and since he couldn’t pay he’d rather not have to spend the night in the local jail for a dine and dash.

So now that he knew the direction of the famous Singer Salvage Yard Gabriel had just one more question.

What the fuck was he going to do now?

 

\--

 

Gabriel couldn’t say that he didn’t feel like a total douche as he hid in one of the gutted car shells that were scattered around the yard, but he would be lying. 

He’d been laying low for almost a whole day now and he was bored, not to mention beyond pissed and annoyed at the world.

It hadn’t taken him very long to make his way to the hunter’s humble home. When he hadn’t seen an Impala in front of the house he may have grumbled a bit, he knew that the brothers wouldn’t be coming here before Sammy’s kidnapping but he had hoped and since he was without his mojo he had to wait until after Sam got spirited away and for Dean to get his butt over here, only then could Gabriel show himself and try to get the hunters’ to Sam’s location as fast as they can, before he got shanked like a bitch dropping the soap.

Only when Sam was safe will Gabriel let thoughts such as ‘what happens now?’ overrun his brain, until then he was an ex-angel on a mission.

Mission: convince the ever cynical and shoot first, ask questions after the body cools off- Dean Winchester and Robert Singer not to kill him before he explained his presence.

Gabriel sighed heavily and flopped onto his back, ignoring the painful metal bits that persisted in digging into his back and the fact that his stomach was trying to eat itself. He’d never felt hunger like this before, and he now had a newfound grudging respect for the mortals who had to deal with such bodily discomforts all the time. 

If he thought he could get away with it he would have snuck into the house while Bobby was occupied with something else but the slight growling of the guard dog made Gabriel stay put. No need to get discovered until he was good and ready.

“Spread those hands now idjit and don’t even think about doing any funny business.”

_Shit, shit, shit._

Gabriel got up slowly and lifted his hands up in the air, fingers apart in a sign of surrender. He slowly got out of the vehicle and stood in front of it.

Bobby Singer was standing just a few feet away with a fully loaded shotgun in hand. Now, usually that wouldn’t be something that worried Gabriel but since he wasn’t sure that he wouldn’t die now that he was without his powers, he could admit to himself, and only to himself, that he felt a trickle of anxiety staring at the barrel of the gun.

“Now you wanna tell me why a trickster is hiding out in my salvage yard like some kind of runaway?” 

“Maybe because I am one?” Gabriel spoke without thinking. It looked like his brain had already come up with a plan and hadn’t thought to keep him up to speed.

The look that Bobby gave him was unimpressed.

“Look,” Gabriel said as meekly as possible. “I’m not here to cause trouble-”

Bobby snorted, “Right, like I believe that. You tricksters are made to cause trouble. Now I won’t ask again, what the hell are you doing on my property and why shouldn’t I just shoot you full of buckshot right now?”

Gabriel had to bit back a sarcastic reply, because seriously, when had the hunter asked that?

When Bobby cocked the gun though any sarcasm that he had been feeling drained away.

“Because it would actually, really, more then likely kill me?” Gabriel squeaked.

“All the more reason for me to squeeze the trigger. Especially before you pull off any of your dumb tricks.” the hunter threatened.

“Okay wait a minute!” Gabriel panicked and before he could stop himself he was kneeling on the ground in a position of surrender. 

It literally made him feel sick to his stomach to show this much weakness in front of the hunter but he had no other choice, he’d rather not get shoot and if him looking pathetic did the trick then he’d just have to be twice as sarcastic and biting later to make up for it.

At least he wasn’t doing this in front of the Winchesters, that was the only silver lining that he could think of.

It also seemed to work because the gun was lowered slightly. Gabriel took advantage of the momentary uncertainty to start babbling.

“Look I know you don’t trust me and you’d be an idiot if you did but I’m here under duress.” Gabriel breathed out deeply and put on the most pitying look he could muster. “Look there is no easy way to say this so I’m just going to spit it out…I’m human.”

The shotgun didn’t even waver.

“Completely human.” Gabriel hasten to repeat. “As in mortal, as in likely to die and leave you with a human body to explain to the local police if you shot me. As in I will bleed all over you and hopefully stain your clothes.” Gabriel then made a point at looking Bobby over and his eyes caught more then a few stains already on his shirt and trousers. “Well stain them even more.”

“So you’re telling me that you have none of that mobo jumbo like you did at that college? No parlor tricks?” 

“No tricks!” Gabriel huffed. “Can I put my hands down now? Their cramping.”

Bobby’s face was still filled with suspicion but he did nod. Gabriel let out a quiet sigh of relief and put his arms down to his sides.

“Look, I know this isn’t ideal for either of us, but I really need to speak to you…and the brothers.”

The moment Gabriel spoke about the Winchesters was the moment he realized that he had made a mistake.

The gun was already back up and the barrel was as rigid as a ruler stuffed in a nun’s bum.

“So this is some kind of revenge thing then?” Bobby growled, when Gabriel heard the cock of the gun he knew he was in deep trouble.

“No, no!!” Gabriel snarled, sick and tired of defending himself. “Listen you overgrown hushpuppy! I’m human because I’ve been cursed into one! I overhead a few choice conversations and was found out, alright?!  
And those conversations have something to do with your wonder boys so I suggest you stop being self-righteous and listen to me!!” 

Even with how angry he was at the situation Gabriel knew that it wouldn’t be a good idea to tell the hunters the truth. For one it sounded completely idiotic and unbelievable and there was no way that they would  
believe it, for another…Gabriel just didn’t want to talk about it, with anyone. It was completely humiliating on a personal level, so he’d rather the hunters believe that he’d been cursed and his godhood taken away instead of telling him that he was a fallen angel sent back in time, oh and that he was a complete dick to them countless times in that future.

One of the good things about going back this far in the timeline was that all the things he’d done to Sam and Dean were erased, well almost all.

At least the groundhog day from hell never happened. He wouldn’t be surprised if Sam tried to kill him if he ever remembered that, but since that had never happened in this timeline the odds that memory would  
just pop up was slim to none.

“Nice grand speech there buddy.” Bobby was not impressed and it showed when he rolled his eyes at Gabriel.

Gabriel really wanted to snap his fingers and do something nasty, not that he ever needed to snap his fingers to use his powers but it had become a habit over time. 

“Well I hope you were impressed then!” Gabriel huffed and then jumped when the hunter tossed something at him. He barely managed to catch it but once he got a firm grip on it he took a long hard look at the item.

It was a small wooden stake with blood on its tip. Gabriel raised an eyebrow at the item in his hands.

“What? You want me to stab myself or something? Hate to break it to you but that’ll kill me just as well as a human, so I’m not sure about the proof part happening.”

“No you idjit. The tip is sharp so I want you to cut into your forearm, if you don’t burn then you’re telling the truth but if you do, know that I have another stake and I’m ready to use it.” 

Gabriel tried not to snort, he knew that if he had been a real Trickster god instead of an Archangel in disguise then the wood with lamb’s blood would burn his skin like sliver to a shape shifter. 

But since he was angel- or had been one at least that the wood wouldn’t do anything to him.

Well except that he might develop an infection if he got any splinters in his skin, also cutting himself with something that had blood on it couldn’t be sanitary.

“Fine but you’re giving me some anti-biotic cream. There’s no way I’m going to die from an infection because of your paranoia.” Gabriel said testily before rolling up his arm sleeve. He found a place below the elbow that wouldn‘t do much damage and set to trying to injure himself.

It was harder then he thought it would be, the tip may have been sharp but it was no knife so Gabriel had to keep applying pressure to break the skin, it hurt, a lot more then he thought it would and he was on the verge of asking the damned hunter if he could just cut himself with a sharp knife then dip the stake in the wound but his frustration paid off enough that he was able to push the end sharply enough to pierce his arm.

“Ow ow!! Damn-mother-fucker!!” Gabriel cursed and dropped the stake and clamped his hand over the wound which was bleeding freely. “I hope your happy you sadistic mutt!” he snarled. 

“If you aren’t burning I’ll be happy, and if I have to be a sadistic mutt in order to preserve my life then yes, I am happy.” Bobby snarled back and took a step closer, gesturing for him to move his hand to let him see the wound.

Gabriel didn’t want to stop applying pressure to it but grudging did as he was asked, he just wanted this over with and if Bobby got the answer he was looking for, then maybe he’d believe that Gabriel was telling the truth, hopefully. Then maybe he’d feed him.

Gabriel would kill right now for a cheeseburger, or better yet- a cheesecake.

As Gabriel knew it would be the wound wasn’t burnt at all instead it just continued to bleed, Bobby even poked at it but the only response he got from that was a hissed threat.

Bobby huffed as he inspected the wound, “Like your threats mean anything, especially now that you’re human. Get your butt in the house and sit down, we’ll bandage you up and you can tell me why you’ve been hiding out in my yard like some kind of stalker for the last ten hours or so.”

“More like fourteen.” Gabriel admitted sheepishly. 

“Get in the house idjit.”

 

 

\--

 

It didn’t take long for Gabriel to get situated in the hunter’s house, the hunter had a host of other tests that he wanted the trickster to do and he had no choice but to gracelessly comply. The holy water was a joke and the salt just made him pucker his lips like he sucked on a lemon. There were a few chants and binding spells that Bobby tried that would have worked on a full blown trickster but luckily they had no effect on him.

Bobby Singer had no choice but to admit defeat, Gabriel was 100% human. He didn’t know who was more upset by that, Bobby or him.

Once his arm was tightly bandaged Gabriel was handed a bowl of soup that Bobby had obviously been cooking before he had confronted him.

“Alright start talking.” Bobby said after Gabriel slurped up the last of the soup.

Gabriel had always been good with improvisation and that certainly hadn’t changed with him becoming human. 

“So I was in the middle of one of my best works, there was this sheriff in this dead beat town in Minnesota that was abusing his status to suppress the local yahoos-”

“Get to the damn point already!”

“Sheesh you really need to get that stick…okay, okay there is no need to get out the shotgun again, I get it!” Gabriel shrieked. “Anyway, as I was saying I was in the middle of something when I got wind of a meeting happening, and not just any meeting, but one of demons.”

Bobby raised an eyebrow and took a swig of whiskey, motioning for Gabriel to continue his tale.

Gabriel pouted a bit at not being offered any of the alcohol but it was probably for the best, he needed his wits about him with this hunter. Later when the two amigos came over he’d drink to his hearts content.

“Well from what I overheard, it seems that some yellow-eyed demon named Azazel is after dear little Sammy-whoa old man!” Gabriel literally jumped when Bobby got to his feet in a hurry and ran to his phone.

It didn’t take more then a second for Bobby to get in touch with the Winchesters. 

“Dean, get over here now and don’t let Sam out of your sight. I don’t care what you’re doing or if you’re in the middle of a hunt this is important-hold on a minute.” Bobby covered the mouth piece and spoke to  
Gabriel.

“Did the demons give a time on when they’re supposedly going after Sam?” He asked suspiciously.

“Uh…I think maybe tomorrow? Could be sooner.” Gabriel shrugged, acting like he could care less.

Bobby growled and finished his conversation with Dean, making sure to impress upon how important it was before hanging up. 

“Okay trickster, continue with your little story and we’ll see how true it is when the boys get here.”

“How far out are they?” Gabriel asked nonchalantly.

“You’re not fooling anyone you know, and if I were you I’d go hide in the panic room downstairs before those boys arrive and see you before I can explain, because I’m not sure about you but I’m sure those boys  
would love to shoot first and ask questions later.” Bobby smirked, “They’re only a few hours out so if I were you I’d make myself nice and comfy in the basement.”

“Yea…” Gabriel grimaced. “Anyway lets say that I wasn’t too careful on not being caught and got myself in a sticky mess.”

“You’re saying that a bunch of demons got the jump on you?” The sarcastic humor in Bobby’s voice caused Gabriel to bristle in annoyance.

“Ha ha laugh it up grumpy. Anyway they did some mobo jumbo and tore out my powers. I’m sure they placed them somewhere that they’re sure I wouldn’t think to look but I don‘t care, I need my powers back.” 

“And what? You think we’re going to help you? Are you insane?” Bobby asked, bemused.

“Oh come on!” Gabriel blew a raspberry, “I’m not an idiot nor insane, I know that it’s going to take me awhile to gain any sense of trust from you knuckleheads.”

“Whatever you say trickster.” Bobby said smirked and drained his glass before getting up and going towards his desk. “Now we could do this now or when the boys arrive but I need to know everything, and I mean everything that you overheard.”

Gabriel sighed heavily but didn’t argue with the man. He was just lucky that Bobby was being so nice about everything considering the last time they’d met hadn’t ended too well for either of them. Although for  
Gabriel it had been quiet funny.

“Do you have any chocolate here? I’m literally dying here.” Gabriel asked blandly. 

“Maybe if you’re a good boy I’ll call the boys to pick some up for you.” Bobby snickered.

“Asshole.” 

It took a while longer but Gabriel finally managed to convince the hunter that he really was harmless, in the magical sense at least, he didn’t want the hunter getting any ideas that he was some hapless maiden. 

 

 

\--

 

Gabriel stretched his tired limbs as he walked towards the small cot that was against the wall of the panic room. Bobby had been gracious enough to let Gabriel use his bathroom to take a shower and lend him some clothes to sleep in. 

Judging by the size he’d say that they were some of Sammy’s old clothes that he’d left behind.

Bobby was upstairs doing whatever he normally did at this time of day, more then likely answering his group of cop phones and lying through his teeth.

Sam and Dean weren’t going to be here for another hour at least so Gabriel had enough time to prepare for the meeting, which was sure to have some bloodshed involved before the serious talk could happen.

Gabriel lay down on the cot and stared up at the slowly moving fan. Actually it was only when Gabriel had walked into the room and didn’t set off any of the room’s alarms that Bobby seemed to finally relax, well  
as much as the old man could. 

As he laid there he contemplated his next move. Even if Sam got here safely without getting himself kidnapped they still had to deal with old yellow-eyes. Not to mention all the other physic kiddies still out there.  
Gabriel was even debating with himself on letting the hell gate be opened; on one hand it would be a disaster, most of the demons that should never walk the earth like the Sins and Lilith would be free but on the other hand…it would be pure chaos and Gabriel could admit to himself that he had thrived on chaos for the last few millenniums.

But if they did manage to stop the gate from being opened then at the very least that would stop the apocalypse that his brothers had been planning and unless they had a good backup plan then Lucifer would be staying down in his cage and the earth would turn as it was meant to.

Though knowing his brothers, Michael and Raphael would have something up their sleeves. Those two had become even crazier the longer Father stayed away, which was one of the main reasons why Gabriel had flown the coop.

Without even realizing it Gabriel began to drift off to sleep, his dreams were abstract, a mixture of memory and fantasy, colors that hadn’t even been named yet flowed through his dreamscape and collided in one huge collage.

“Holy shit Bobby wasn’t kidding.” 

And then Gabriel was rudely woken up.

He rapidly blinked to chase away the sleepy haze that his brain was still wrapped in, it took him a moment but he came to the conclusion that no he wasn’t dreaming and yes, the Winchesters were standing over  
him with guns and suspiciously confused expressions.

“If you were wearing thongs and holding massage oil instead of guns I would say this was a pleasant dream.” Gabriel mumbled, hoping that the ridiculous things coming out of his mouth would put the boys at ease enough for them not to hover threatening over him.

Sam bitch-faced him and Dean just rolled his eyes. The guns were lowered however so mission accomplished.

“What are you doing here trickster?” Dean demanded, while Sam just kind of pouted next to him.

“Maybe if you back up a few paces terminator I can sit up and tell you. Or do you like the sight of me on my back that much?” Gabriel teased.

“Oh my god you’re disgusting.” Dean sneered at him but Gabriel didn’t take it to heart, the blush that bloomed on the guy’s face told Gabriel a different story. 

Dean did take a few steps back though, Sam following as well. 

“Whatever helps you sleep at night sweetheart.” Gabriel said before sitting up and stretching his arms that were tingling a little and told him that they had been in danger of falling asleep.

“So I assume the old man brought you up to speed?” Gabriel asked.

“Yea, he told us the story that you spilled for him, but we’re not as gullible as he is so I’ll ask you again, why are you here trickster?” Dean demanded hotly.

“Wow aren’t you a ball of sunshine.” Gabriel snapped, sighing he flicked his slightly damp hair out of his face. “Look, what do you want me to say? That I’m conning you? That I have a master plan to confuse and lead you into a false sense of security? What would be the point of that?

“Look, I don’t care what happens to you, frankly I don’t like any of you.” Gabriel lied, “but I need help and just maybe this once we can help each other. You don’t want your brother to get knifed in the back and I want my powers back. Can’t we work together long enough for those two things to happen? Well not getting Sammy killed that is, and me getting my mojo back.”

“And why should we believe you all of a sudden?” Sam suddenly spoke, “I mean, how are you even alive? The last we saw of you, you were dead. So why come to us?” 

“Oh please. Like that small splinter could have killed me.” Gabriel bragged. “And I came to you knuckleheads because the only reason I’m in this mess is because of you.”

Sam and Dean shared a disbelieving look “So, what? You overheard something about Sammy, got your powers zapped away and it’s our fault?” 

“Yep, that about sums it up.” Gabriel stated proudly.

“Your insane.”

“And you’re just the picture of mental health.” He snapped, irritated by the ring around they seemed to be having. “Look, I know what’s going on and I can help you if you let me.”

“Oh yea? And just what do you think is going on?” Dean snarled.

Gabriel stood up and ignored the guns that were now pointed at his chest. He looked at the brothers and the only thing he could feel at that moment was a profound sadness, his Father and Fate were almost  
unnaturally cruel to them. Their entire lives were just one mess after another; sacrificing their own lives time and time again for the other and then stabbing the other in the back in the next moment. 

It wasn’t fair and to be honest it wasn’t right. Gabriel would be the first to admit that he wasn’t the best at family issues considering his own family problems, but he wanted…well to be honest he had no idea what  
he wanted, he just knew that he didn’t want the Winchesters to go through the hell that they had gone through before.

Maybe it had been when Dean called on Gabriel’s bullshit that one time and freed him from the holy fire, or the time that Sam tried to convince his brother that they could try to get Gabriel on their side to avert the end of the world, or maybe it had been his little brother’s pleading eyes that begged him not to run away from the family crisis.

Whatever it had been Gabriel wanted to fix it, because he was not equipped with dealing with guilty, he just wasn’t.

“I know about the demon that destroyed your family,” Gabriel ignored the warning growl from Dean, “I know that you’ve both spent your entire lives dedicated to catching and killing that SOB and that nothing else mattered. I know that you Sam-” He turned his head to look at Sam whose expression was surprisingly blank, his eyes dark as they stared at Gabriel. “-tried to get out of this life years ago. Ran off to school to try and be a real boy huh? I bet you thought it would be safer, that nothing would come after you. After all, there are hundreds of normal people out there that never encounter a supernatural being in their entire lives so why couldn’t you try for a normal life? And you Dean, the good son, the soldier in your father’s war, I know it hurt like hell the moment Sammy left, how hard it was to hang on to the only family you thought you had left, your dad. But he left too didn’t he? Went off to try to hunt that damned demon himself and left you to pick up all the pieces. You’ve felt empty inside ever since he’d made that deal haven’t you? You wish that you’d died in that hospital, like you should have.” 

“Just shut…up.” Dean strangled out, his voice hoarse with emotions.

“Not just yet,” Gabriel was on a roll now and if he stopped now he’d never again be able to say any of this and even though the more he talked the more likely that he was going to get shot in a hopefully non fatal area skyrocketed. “I know that you’ve meet other children that Azazel had gotten a hold of, other children with psychic powers and that demons are taking them somewhere. Well I know for a fact that Sammy here is next on their list. I’m also aware of where they are being taken.”

“And how do you know all this?!” Sam demanded, a harsh light in his eyes.

“Oh Sam,” Gabriel sighed, exhausted sounding and yet tinted with wary affection. “I know a lot of things. I’m older then you could even imagine and I’ve seen things that would make even a demon cringe. Look, I’m not asking you to take every word I say as the absolute gospel truth; I know you’re not that stupid. But what I am asking of you is for you to trust me this once and for this thing only.”

“We kill monsters for a living, what makes you think we’re just going to let you walk out of here?” Dean asked.

Gabriel stared at him sadly. “Because at this very moment, I’m not a monster, I’m just a human and you don’t kill humans. You both aren’t that tainted.”

The silence that filled the small room was thick and suffocating. If Gabriel was anyone else he would have coughed or tugged on the collar of the shirt he was wearing.

Before he could break the silence Sam did it for him.

“Um, I’ve been meaning to ask…why are you wearing my clothes?” Sam blushed hard as he realized what he had asked.

Dean barked out a laugh at his brother’s misfortune.

Gabriel smirked, “Why do you ask Sam-I-am? Do you perhaps…enjoy seeing me in your clothes? Does it get you hot under the collar?” 

“S-shut up!” Sam mumbled as Dean began to hyperventilate. “the both of you just…shut up.”

“Oh Sammy.” Gabriel’s smirk turned into a grin. “I’m just getting started.”

 

\-- 

 

“Okay you idjits, let’s see what this ex-trickster has to say for himself then figure out a game plan.” Bobby said as he popped the top of a beer bottle.

“Okay, can we stop with calling me trickster or ex anything?” Gabriel huffed and crinkled the foil of the candy bar that he managed to squirrel away from Sam.

“You want to tell us that you have a name then?” Dean snorted in amusement.

“In fact I do, thank you very much!” Gabriel snapped and threw the wrapper at his head.

Ignoring Dean’s yell of indignation Sam turned his attention to the annoyed looking ex-god. “So what is your name then?”

Gabriel paused, he hadn’t actually thought any of them would actually ask that question, although now that it had been spoken he wasn’t surprised that it had been Sam who had asked it.

“Its…Gabriel. My name is Gabriel.” 

Gabriel didn’t know if it was wise to use his real name but he figured that it wouldn’t hurt, it wasn’t like any of them were well versed in Catholic mythology, not yet at any rate.

Dean cackled, “Gabriel?! What kind of sissy name is that?”

Gabriel narrowed his eyes at the hunter, “Be careful what you say Winchester, or I may just decided that you are more trouble then your worth.”

“Oooh is that a threat Mr. Trickster?” Dean stalked forward a pace before Sam bodily pulled him back.

“No, that’s a promise.” 

“That’s enough with the macho bullshit.” Bobby snapped, “Now sit your asses down!”

They all scattered to find somewhere to sit down. Gabriel eventually found himself sandwiched between the Winchesters. What surprised him was how comfortable he was sitting between them like that, of course the moment that thought crossed his mind he naturally became uncomfortable. He tried to shift away but surprisingly strong hands grabbed his elbow and kept him from getting up to sit somewhere else. 

Gabriel looked down at Sam’s hands on him and slowly looked upward. Sam’s face was tinted red but his face was set, focused. He wasn’t letting go until he knew for certain that Gabriel wasn’t going to move.

After a second Gabriel tilted his head a little in a nod. Sam’s body relaxed and he let go of his death grip on Gabriel.

Dean just watched the scene without saying anything, his eyes spoke a million and one emotions and Gabriel couldn’t decipher a single one.

“Now, Gabriel I think this is the time you want to start talking and keep the bullshit to a minimum if you please.”

Gabriel huffed but decided to comply. “Alright then, well I’m sure you are all familiar with Sammy’s little magic tricks, correct?” He didn’t want for any confirmation before continuing. “Well, when Sammy was six months old a demon paid him a visit, and not just any demon, this son of a bitch is named Azazel, and no I’m not going to tell you how I know this. Anyway this demon did something…to Sam.” 

“What does that mean?” Dean growled, even through the anger that he was projecting Gabriel could see the fear in his eyes and hear it in his voice, not fear _of_ Sam but fear _for_ Sam.

Gabriel turned so that he was facing Dean, who was staring at him like he wanted nothing more then to shut him up for good.

“Your not going to like it kiddo.”

“Don’t patronize me and just tell me what you mean!” Dean spat out.

“He dripped his own blood into Samuel’s mouth.”

The gasp of horror from Sam and the muffled curse from Bobby wasn’t enough for Gabriel to turn his attention away from Dean whose expression could only be explained as pure, unadulterated horror.

Without Gabriel even taking the time to think of it he’d pulled Dean into a tight hug. For a second Dean resisted but Gabriel held on tight, not allowing him to try to escape the comfort he so obviously needed but denied himself. 

A few moments later Dean’s body collapsed and shook, emotions were running high right now and Gabriel was unequipped to handle them. 

He ran his hand through Dean’s short hair and made soft noises to help calm the storm that was clearly running through Dean’s mind. After a minute Gabriel looked up and was surprised to see Bobby gone, he must have ducked out the moment after Dean’s small breakdown, understanding that this was a private moment and that he wouldn’t be of much help regardless.

Sam was still sitting on Gabriel’s other side; his face was a grand mixture of fear and sadness. He was gazing at the ceiling, no doubt thinking about what everything that came entitled with having demon blood running through his veins.

Gabriel detached one of his arms from around Dean and reeled in Sam who came unresisting into the embrace. He tucked his large frame around the both of them and buried his head into Gabriel’s neck, tickling him slightly with his longish hair. 

As Gabriel sat there with the two brothers firmly under his arms in a tight hold he couldn’t help but wonder just what he had gotten himself into.

 

 

\--

 

 

Gabriel knew that Dean was horribly embarrassed by the loss of control he had displayed with Gabriel, and not only Gabriel but also his younger brother, who Dean hated to have him see him in what he perceived as a weak moment.

Gabriel didn’t think it was weak and he was sure that Sam felt the same but trying to convince Dean of that was like trying to get a fish to fly and a bird to swim. Near impossible but not improbable.

After almost ten minutes of cuddling, and no matter what the Winchesters said in contrary it had been cuddling, Dean had broken the embrace and ran out of the room to go get a beer…or six.

Sam left soon after to collect Bobby who had gone outside to wait out the cuddle fest, in fear of being pulled in as well.

As soon as they were all assembled again they tried again with the meeting. Only this time with more alcohol. Gabriel was happy to announce that even with the foreign blood in Sam’s body it didn’t effect him as  
deeply as they feared, sure it gave him powers but he told them as soon as they kill the demon the powers would become unstable and more then likely stop altogether. 

Gabriel rather thought that Dean was going to kiss him when he said that but luckily he refrained. Not that Gabriel would mind kissing him, he was pretty after all, even if he was completely damaged, but Gabriel couldn’t help but remember the looks that Dean and Castiel shared in the alternative future. Dean was claimed already, even if the human and angel hadn’t met yet.

He resolved then and there that he would make those two meet each other in this timeline, if only because it had been completely adorable and dorky the way those two had danced around their attraction to each other.

He also got the feeling that he was forgetting something, something vaguely important but he had no clue what it was. Obviously he had forgotten whatever it had been, or maybe he hadn’t deemed it important at the time when it had happened. Whatever it was he was forgetting he knew for a fact that it will pop up sooner or later, so he didn’t let it bother him for now.

When Bobby asked for the location of the missing physics Gabriel hesitated for a moment. He didn’t want the boys totting off and getting killed but he knew he needed to warn them, if only because it would look suspicious if he didn’t tell them. 

So he reluctantly told Bobby that the kiddies were being hauled off to Cold Oak, Dakota.

“Do you know who’s there exactly?” Sam asked.

Gabriel shrugged, “I recognized your name when the demons were talking but I don’t know any of the others. I think one of them was a named Andy and there was an Eva-”

“Eva and Andy!?” Sam burst out, shock resounding in his voice.

Gabriel cocked his head to the side, “Yea..?”

Sam shook his head and swore, “We know those two. Eva’s been missing for months and Andy…he’s a good kid.”

“Well they may be good people when you meet them but I can assure you that the longer they’re at this place the less good they become. It’s a celebrity death match Sam. They pitch the kids against each other and whoever comes out alive gets to live long enough to enter the next round. If this Eva chick has been missing for months, and if she’s still alive, then that means that she took steps to assure her survival.”

But Sam was shaking his head; he refused to believe that the mild-mannered woman who had gone out of her way to help him would be capable of something like that.

Gabriel could understand his difficulty, but they didn’t have time to go through the denial stage. Time was growing shorter and shorter.

“Listen Sam, I know how much you don’t want to believe me, and I can tell you with complete sincerity that I wish I wasn’t right on this, but anyone, and I mean anyone, is capable of anything in order to assure one’s survival. The more you use your powers of your own free will…well, it messes with your head a bit. The blood doesn’t control you but it does like to change you in small but significant ways; ethics and a conscious are just a few ways it can change you. Fear is a good motivator, and I should know, I’ve been using those tactics for centuries against humans. You can’t be responsible for other’s actions Sam, no matter how much you want to be.”

He could still see that Sam was stubbornly clinging to his beliefs that Eva hadn’t turned into a killer, but at the moment Gabriel couldn’t change that, only experience would teach Sam differently.  
Dean though was much more of a cynic bastard and he only nodded along with Gabriel’s explanation.

“Now I’m not sure how long the others have been there, but if they’d only just arrived then it might not be to late to save them. I’m sure that Bobby will tell you about the location if you don’t already know about it, but that town’s so haunted it gives me the creeps. If you want to storm the place, which I’m sure you do, then we need to come up with a plan because even if we rescue these sons of a bitches the demon will just round up another batch of people and start all over again.” 

“Why is he doing this? I mean, what’s it all for?” Sam asked; it was clear he was confused and that confusion was leading to frustration.

“A leader.”

Dean pointed an empty beer bottle in Gabriel’s face. Gabriel had to cross his eyes to see clearly.

“What does that even mean?” he spit out, annoyance clear on his face. He was still smarting from all the chick moments that he had endured earlier and was trying to show his muscularity by posturing. It was kind of endearing actually, in a puppy does a cute trick for its master kind of way.

“It means that Azazel is looking for the brightest and ruthless of his supposed children,” he cut a quick apologetic look to Sam who looked sick at the idea that a demon thought of him as one of it’s children, “to lead his army into the human world and lay waste.”

“Oh yea? And how is he getting his army.” 

Gabriel opened his mouth then closed it just as quickly, he shouldn’t tell them everything, it would make things easier no doubt, but he knew in an instinctive way that it could cause a lot of problems down the road. So instead of telling them about the Devil’s Gate, Gabriel instead shrugged. 

“I’m not clear on that part. I mean, sure there are a few demons scattered here and there but his army is still in hell as far as I know, I don’t know how he’s going to free them.”

The lie tasted like ash on his tongue, which was intriguing considering he use to make his living off lies and deadly tricks. For Father’s sake, his whole life after he’d left heaven had become one huge lie.

“Well whatever it is, we’ll figure it out.” Bobby said, “In the meantime I guess it’s either hitting the books or going on a road trip to Cold Oaks. Which is it boys?”

Dean snorted, “Like you even have to ask.”

Sam grinned and Gabriel just rolled his eyes.

Road trip to Cold Oaks it was then.

 

 

\--

 

 

They had decided to wait until first light the next day to leave, which surprised Gabriel since he knew how much the boys wanted to get the show on the road but Bobby would have none of that, he told them straight up that they needed all the strength they could muster and for that they needed a good nights sleep. So while Dean and Sam got the guest room, Gabriel went back to sleep in the panic room, still wearing  
Sam’s clothes of course. Sam couldn’t complain when he was told by Bobby that he had to suck it up because Gabriel didn’t have anything else to wear. 

Surprisingly, Sam didn’t have the bitch fit that Gabriel had been expecting, he just nodded his consent and went to his room to sleep. Before Dean went to his own room he teased Gabriel that Sammy was more then okay with Gabriel wearing his clothes and that he was lucky that he was in the basement and didn’t have to hear Sam beat off to the image of Gabriel in his clothes.

Gabriel just told him that he would be happy to switch rooms. Which left a disgruntled Dean going to his room, upset that he couldn’t one up Gabriel and more then a little disturbed about Gabriel’s acceptance of  
Sam having a slight man crush on him.

The arsenal that the hunters packed into their trunk the next morning was enough to impress him; Bobby clearly had a good stash of both weapons and relics in his house that would prove useful in all future fights.

Bobby told them under no circumstances would he be riding in the same car as them and drove off in his own truck, the meeting place already decided, which was several miles outside of the haunted town.

Gabriel had been unsure if he should occupy them on the trip. For one, he felt useless without his powers and he wasn’t sure how much help he would actually be. Sure he could speak any exorcise in any language if needed and he had more knowledge about the supernatural then even Sam’s computer, but other then being a walking library of the paranormal and candy selections he couldn’t see what use he’d be.

But the hunters weren’t willing to leave him behind, they might believe in his story, as well they should, but that didn’t mean they trusted him on his own.

Dean told him flat out that they didn’t trust him to leave their sight in the case that somehow Gabriel got his powers back and decided to double cross them. Sam protested that of course, flushing bright red as he looked helplessly between Gabriel and Dean.

Gabriel tried not to let it get to him and take it to heart, Dean was only speaking the truth after all and it was a wise choice. They had no idea what his true motive was other then getting his powers back and they wouldn’t understand that helping them was his true motive, because helping them would help him and in turn help everyone else on the planet. Not to mention heaven and even perhaps a few lost souls in hell as well.

Gabriel was sitting in the backseat of the Impala, which thanks to his smaller status, wasn’t as crowded as it could have been. 

They were mostly silent as they made their way towards Cold Oaks. Dean blared out his mullet rock music that Gabriel couldn’t help but sing along to despite the dirty looks that Sam kept sending him. He also got them to stop along the road at a gas station to buy him some snacks, Sam might say that it was out of the goodness of their hearts but everyone knew the only reason Dean pulled over was he got tired of hearing  
Gabriel complain about how much he missed chocolate and that he was going to die if he didn’t get any sugar in his system. Which wasn’t true, but after decades of eating the stuff non-stop some habits were  
harder to break then others.

Sooner rather then later they arrived at the meeting place and Bobby met up with them. They didn’t have much of a game plan, only that they needed to save whoever was there and try to capture any demons to pump them for information. Gabriel snorted softly at that but kept his opinions to himself. Personally he thought that this was a stupid plan and the only good one was letting the kiddies duke it out with each other and wait until there was a winner and then follow that one to where Azazel would no doubt be, but Gabriel knew better then to voice that option. 

The Dean and Sam that were in front of him were different then the Dean and Sam he knew from the future. These two weren’t as hard as the others; Sam hadn’t died and Dean hadn’t sold his soul for him, they hadn’t had to go through that hellish year with the deal hanging over their heads and Lilith on their asses. Sam hadn’t been corrupted by Ruby and Dean hadn’t had to deal with being in Hell for four decades, and ten of those years spent torturing other souls on the rack and tutoring under Alistair.

So he’d go along with their little plan and try for damage control when it all went to shit, hopefully not as badly as he feared it would.

As Dean and Bobby argued statistical entrances, Sam walked over and leaned against the car next to Gabriel. He was unnaturally quiet, which in turn made Gabriel want to babble. 

“Is there something on your mind Sammy?” Gabriel asked, curiosity winning over silence.

Sam was silent for a moment more before speaking.

“Did you know that you’re the only one other then Dean that I let call me that?” He asked randomly.

“Huh?” 

“I mean-” Sam blushed slightly, “I just think it’s a bit odd. Only Dean’s ever gotten away with calling me Sammy and I tell him over and over that I don’t want him calling me that, not that stops him, but you…I noticed that I never even thought to ask you not to call me that. It just…doesn’t make much sense. I know we shouldn’t trust you and not just because you’re a former trickster but because you almost killed us and we thought we killed you. I mean we’re hunters for gods sake! We don’t usually make nice with the creatures we hunt, least of all Dean. What I’m saying is that…” Sam trailed off, clearly not knowing how to express what he wanted to say.

“It feels right.” Gabriel finished for him. Sam turned to look at him and smiled crookedly at him.

“Yea it does. I don’t know why and I know that it shouldn’t but…it feels like I know you and I’m sure Dean feels the same way because I know he would never have let you touch him like you did earlier. Thank you for that by the way.” 

“It was no big.” Gabriel shrugged away the heartfelt gratitude; it made him feel uncomfortable because Sam had no idea, no idea who Gabriel was and what he had done. It made Gabriel feel guilt and he hated that feeling, it was that feeling that had gotten him killed in the first place.

“Yes it was and I want you to know that I’m grateful, and I’m sure Dean is as well, even though he doesn’t show it.”

Gabriel rolled his eyes at Sam’s wide grin, he couldn’t help but smile back. Sam’s smiles were contagious it seemed.

Sam didn’t smile much in the future, just another thing Gabriel had to change.

“Okay ladies, if you are done gossiping like a pair of thirteen year old girls, we’re going in.” Dean interrupted as he walked towards them. 

“Dean!” Sam whined and Gabriel just stuck out his tongue.

“Gods, you’re both so immature.” Dean shook his head but there was a small, almost unnoticeable smile on his face.

“Like you’re any better Dean-o.” Gabriel shot back and pushed off the car so that he was standing a few steps away from the brothers.

“I know I am.” Dean said smugly.

Before Gabriel could retort Bobby interrupted.

“All right, if you’re all done squawking, we’ve got a mission to accomplish.”

The seriousness in his tone sent them all into motion; Dean opened the trunk and got out the shotguns and the salt shells, while Sam got a few other items that they thought they might need.

“Wish we had the colt.” Sam breathed out and then cringed at Dean’s glare. “Sorry.”

Gabriel watched the interaction silently. He knew that Azazel had the colt, and he knew that Jake, the human that would win the showdown only because he stabbed Sam in the back, would have it to open the gate.

But telling them this wouldn’t help them. In fact it would hinder them, regardless of how Gabriel presented it. Better not to say anything at all and watch how things played out. 

“So Gab.” Dean said nonchalantly, “if this thing goes off without a hitch and we all live, you have any ideas on how to get your powers back? Because I don’t know about you, but I’d rather know what I’m going to  
get into if we’re going to get your mojo sparkles back to full strength.”

Gabriel gapped at him. He knew for a fact that his face was showing how shocked he was about the question, but he couldn’t bring himself to care.

“What…?! Are you serious?!” He stuttered out, disbelief clear in his voice.

Dean made a face, “Of course I’m serious, we have a deal here. You help us and we help you. We don’t skim people like that.”

“But I’m not people.” Gabriel pointed out, as much as he hated that he had to. “I’m a monster; you said it yourself many a time.”

Now Dean was doing a good impression of Sam’s bitch face, which coincidently Sam was also wearing.

“Look, I know that we’ve had our difference…” Dean looked down and took a deep breath before raising his head again and staring at Gabriel with determination. “But if you are telling the truth, and for some insane reason I believe you enough to drive out to this deserted stretch of land so I must be crazy, but if you are telling the truth then…you deserve the same consideration as another human being, you may not  
have been one before but right now you’re one of us; a hunter, and us hunters stick together.” 

Gabriel was speechless, absolutely speechless.

He hadn’t expected this, this trust. Even before when he had decided to save the Winchesters and Kali and face his brothers he hadn’t had this level of trust. 

The last person who had trusted him like this had been his own Father when he had created the task for Gabriel to become his messenger.

He wasn’t sure what to say to Dean; luckily Dean didn’t seem to expect anything because he slammed the trunk down and walked away towards Bobby in the direction of the town. 

Sam walked next to Gabriel and reached out with his hand and placed it on Gabriel’s shoulder, giving it a tight squeeze and an even tighter smile before following after his brother.

Gabriel let out a shaky sigh and tilted his head back, he knew- knew that everything would change, but what he hadn’t expected was for him to change along with it.

He had already changed so much already and there was plenty more change to go but somehow, he couldn’t help but smile at the thought.

Come hell or not, he was going to face it all with courage, no more running, no more hiding.

Gabriel was going to show everyone, heaven-hell and everyone in between that he ready to face them and come out on top.

Also he had the Winchesters on his side and any side that had those two on it was bound to pull a win out of their asses. 

Gabriel let out a laugh that was as clear and bright as it had been all those years ago before his brother fell from Grace and his Father had left.

He continued laughing as he ran after the others, catching up to them quickly before nudging Dean’s arm and messing Sam’s locks of hair.

The protests were half-hearted at best, not to mention that they both had smiles on their faces as well, even Bobby was less grumpy then usual.

Of course it wouldn’t always be sunshine and roses. Gabriel knew that the news about Sam’s demon blood was still in the front of everyone’s minds and hearts. He knew that there would be arguments and  
accusations in the future, maybe even heartbreak. There was always the chance that Gabriel would never regain his powers and remain a human for the rest of his existence, or that Sam or Dean figured out that he lied about his origins and about how he knew about their lives. They could even find out about who he really was and he knew that it would cause some irredeemable damages that he might never be able to fix.

His brother might be freed by some other means that he didn’t know about and then he’d have to fight in a war that he wanted nothing to do with and have to make choices that he had no business making.

But that wasn’t now, and those things may never come to pass, for now Gabriel was, maybe not happy, but quite content with how things were heading and so, with a much less heavy heart, Gabriel followed after the Winchesters, like his younger brother had before him and who he hoped would join them in the future.

After all, the Winchesters needed all the guardian angel help they could get. 

 

 

The End - for now -


End file.
